J.A. Chapman and H.G. Barnard bought 15,000 acres near Pawhuska (pop. 3,629) in 1915. The Chapman-Barnard Ranch was the largest ranch in Oklahoma by 1940, boasting 85,000 acres. In 1989, the Nature Conservancy bought more than 30,000 acres of the ranch, as the cornerstone of its Tallgrass Prairie Preserve.